Monday, January 18, 2010

I've been hanging 0nto a dozen or so "girly" fat book pages from friends, as well as some I made, knowing that I wanted to bind them into one book. I was going to use my Zutter binder, but then I decided to cover the covers with fabric. So I just used two rings to hold it all together.

My beginner sewing attempts with my tiny machine continue: I tried to make a patchwork, quilted cover out of fabric scraps, a chenille heart, buttons, a puffed applique and some embroidered roses cut from a vintage hankie.

The end result isn't too bad, but I know I spent more than eight hours on it yesterday, whereas an experienced sewer (sewist?) would have had two four-inch by four-inch squares covered in less than 30 minutes. And, the eight hours were even easy! But they were fun. Well, sort of. Except for all the times I broke my needle, broke my thread, sewed crooked, jammed the bobbin case...pretty much everything an inexperienced sewer would do. But it's a good way to learn.

And now I have a darling book. The back of the Little Red Riding Hood page and the Starry Night page are both by Malin of Sweden. I just adore style, and thanks to her I found the Suzi Blu group. The Barbie page is from Bryanna of The Canary's Cupcake, a fellow enthusiast of all things girly--like Alice in Wonderland, Marie Antoinette, Blythe and Barbie.

The next-to-last page shows the inside front cover with a pocket for Moo cards and the facing page is by me. And the last picture shows the closed book, nice and fat. Thanks to everyone who swapped a page or pages with me.

Friday, January 15, 2010

I completed this large canvas last night, after viewing the videos for Suzi Blu's "Petit Marie" class on-line. I signed up for a trifecta: Marie, Rodeo Girl and Day of the Dead. I just love Suzi's style. The canvas is 16" x 20", covered with acrylic paint and bits of papers collaged about. I used vintage French text, an old ledger page, some wrapping paper, rubber stamped images and scrapbook paper.

There are several layers of papers, paints, matte medium, molding paste and gesso, as well as glitter and beeswax. It's Suzi's special recipe. Lastly, I applied a hot pink box with a "couture" charm that my daughter was smart enough to save me from her Juicy Couture perfume box. Isn't it great when family members start saving you "trash" as potential collage materials? It means they "get it."

I'm not all that pleased with my Marie. Her body might have turned out better than expected, but she sort of has one bulbous eye and the roses in the background are sort of large and random. Plus, she's having a bad hair day, just like me. The beauty of it all is, since layers rule the day, I can always add more. And, the wax can just be melted with my heat gun and moved around. Come to think of it, I think I will.

And I can hardly wait until Sunday night for the return of '24' on Fox with Kiefer Sutherland. Can you even imagine him married to Julia Roberts? Thank goodness they stopped that train wreck. But I digress. Jack is back, after appearing on Letterman the other night in a dress no less, and the pre-season reviews are very positive. So, I can't wait to tune in for two hours Sunday and Monday night. Too bad Marie A didn't have a 'Jack' to protect her better. Lord Fersen seems to have made an attempt. Such is the stuff of history, not fairy tales.

Monday, January 11, 2010

This creature remains unnnamed so far, unlike Claire and Gladys. She's supposed to be a cheerful monkey from the book, Stray Sock Sewing, Too by Daniel, he of the one-name artists' club. But, she looks like a cross bewteen a cow and an alien to me! But she was still fun to make, and is my best sewing machine effort so far. Just learning to sew after half a century. The triangle halter top I made in seventh grade home ec has been long forgotten, even if it would be still in style.

Friday, January 8, 2010

My sock monkey Gladys, blogged about here, has a new little friend, Claire the Frog Monkey. Oh wait, I guess that's Claire, the Sock Frog. Found her instructions in Stray Sock Sewing, Too by Daniel, he of the two-book, one-name artist genre. Claire was super-easy to make, for the neophyte sock sewist, not sewer, in me. I even made her before I attended my first sewing class at Jo-Ann Fabrics, machine basics 101. I don't think the instructor was very impressed with my tiny, toy-like machine; in fact, I think she used the word "toy." Whatever. I made a frog.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

I wish I could claim any of this artwork as mine. Oh, I own it all right, but ah, to be the creator. I love the Parisienne, a print from Lulu on Etsy and the chunky face canvas is an original by Catherine Olvier Pluchino. Love it, too! Then we have my Blythe, Daisy, in a pink sweater by nani-store on Etsy, a vintage pink throw pillow with brooch, and a beautifully wrapper bar of soap. Yes. I photographed soap. I find all this eye candy so inspiring, and heaven knows, I need some inspiration. I haven't made much art lately, but Santa delivered a Singer Pixie Plus sewing machine, and I hope to make some sock monkeys and critters, some fabric altered art, and to cover my art journal. All pretty lofty, considering I have never used a sewing machine. My little robot collection and my antique carrom board are more inspiration, along with pretty fabrics, to motivate me to learn how to operate this intimidating little machine. I'll keep you posted...or I'll just keep photographing soap.